


Second Chances

by Madame de flammes (owlaholic68)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, Child Death, Gen, Mild Language, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Spoilers, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-04-28 18:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14455212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaholic68/pseuds/Madame%20de%20flammes
Summary: In one universe, Angus McDonald falls off a moving train, rolls, and sits up with a bright thumbs up.In this universe, he does not.





	1. Chapter 1

Taako’s ears are drooping ever so slightly. It would be barely noticeable for someone who didn’t know him as well as Lucretia did, but it’s there all the same. Magnus and Merle, despite their victorious retrieval of the Oculus, seem slightly muted too. 

“Is something wrong?” She asks, deciding to take the direct approach instead of beating around the topic. “Did anything happen during the mission, any unforeseen complications?” 

“Yessssss…?” Magnus starts, scratching at some hair on the back of his neck. “There was a casualty…” 

She leans forward, her elbows on the table, her fingers itching to write this all down, a habit formed over a hundred years. “Casualties? Explain.” 

“Dumb kid,” Taako mutters. “Just,  _ fucking _ , stupid. Fell of the damn train and hit his head, snapped something in his neck, according to our resident  _ cleric.”  _ He grits his teeth and toys with something near the strap of his bag, a shiny fork, silver and fancy with intricate engraving. 

* * *

Kravitz capital-d capital-n Does Not like having to deal with children. There’s something that twinges, even in his cold heart, at having to see someone so young face the reality of their death. 

This boy seems relatively calm, though. He’s shaking a little in the coldness of what could be considered the lobby of the Astral Plane, his arms wrapped around himself. 

“Hello there,” Kravitz murmurs, kneeling in front of him. He summons his large spectral book, flipping through it to find the correct entry. Angus McDonald, currently ten years old. There’s a date under his name, marked for almost eighty years in the future, but it’s been roughly scratched out and replaced with today’s date. 

He sighs and snaps the book shut. Dead before his time. That means taking him to the Special Processing office, so they can figure out exactly what went wrong. “Come along.” He takes the boy’s hand. “It’s going to be okay-” 

The Raven Queen pops into his mind.  _ Be a dear and bring the boy to my throne room _ , she whispers.  _ Istus requires an audience with him.  _

The boy, Angus, has remained silent the whole time, looking up at Kravitz with curious eyes. 

“There’s a small detour we need to make first. It seems that fate has other plans for you.”

* * *

Taako screws his face up, frowning down at Angus. “Coulda sworn you died, kid.” 

Angus laughs it off. That’s what Istus had suggested: pretend that the Reclaimers had simply made a mistake. The Director looks similarly confused, though Magnus and Merle seem to have completely forgotten about the whole thing. “You guys destroyed the train, and then we all jumped off of it, sirs! And now I’m here, and I’m going to be working pretty closely with you!” 

“And you’re not dead,” Taako presses. 

Angus shakes his head, giving Taako a warm smile. “No, sir, of course not!” 

* * *

Istus is wonderful and beautiful and Angus is terrified. Of course, that’s also because he’s not just meeting with  _ one  _ goddess, he’s meeting with two. The Raven Queen, in an incomprehensible spectral form, is curled around Istus, peering down at him, her bright beady eyes full of curiosity. 

“So, you fucked up.” Istus’ voice has a hint of humor. “Or, Taako fucked up. Either way, you were  _ definitely  _ not supposed to die jumping off that train, dear.” 

Somehow, hearing a verbal confirmation of his current state of not-alive-ness makes Angus really realize that he  _ is  _ dead. The dam he’d been using to hold back his emotions breaks, and faced with two impossibly powerful beings, he bursts into tears. 

“Oh, shit,” Istus immediately says. “Don’t cry-no, that’s a stupid thing to say.” 

Thankfully, Kravitz comes to the rescue, summoning a small black-edged handkerchief and pressing it into Angus’ hands. “I know it’s overwhelming,” he says in what he hopes is a reassuring voice, dropping his work accent, “but everything’s going to be worked out, don’t worry. Just have faith.” 

Angus sniffles and nods. “Thank you, sir.” He blows his nose and raises his head to the two Goddesses. “I’m sorry. Please continue.” 

_ Do not apologize,  _ the Raven Queen says, somehow both out loud and directly into his head.  _ Death is supposed to be scary. That’s my job.  _

“Alright, let’s just skip the what went wrong, and get right to the making it right,” Istus says. She seems to be knitting something, and Angus can see where a light blue thread has snapped and is hanging pathetically out of the pattern. “Those boys down there that you met are fulfilling a very important task for me, though they don’t know it. And they need your help to do it.” She glances up at the hovering Raven Queen. “It’s going to be bending the rules just a  _ little  _ bit, but,” she shrugs, “it’ll work out.” 

* * *

There are some benefits to being, technically, a ghost in a spectral construct. He  _ does  _ wish that the Raven Queen had been able to recover his body, but the Neverwinter militia had apparently already dealt with it. So, a new artificial body had been quickly whipped up for him. He was alive, kind of, like the way that Kravitz was alive, which was not really. 

To remain optimistic, the benefits: he doesn’t need any sleep, though he sticks with the routine to keep up appearances. He doesn’t need to eat, though he still enjoys consuming food. He can see into the Ethereal Plane a little bit, and he can pop over there whenever he wants, no magic required. He’s hard to charm or poison, and he’s hardier versus physical attacks than a boy his age should be. 

Angus yawns and sits up in bed. He goes through his morning routine, taking the time to throw on an extra sweater on top of his pristine outfit. One disadvantage of being a tiny bit dead was that he got cold easily. 

But that’s manageable, considering one of the biggest advantages to being undead: the Voidfish doesn’t affect him. He had pretended that it had, dutifully drinking the ichor when Killian had offered it, and pretending not to understand her before then. 

It’s just before nine o’clock, so time for breakfast. He opens the door to his room and steps out into the hallway. The hairs on the back of his arm stand up.

“Taako, sir, I know you’re there.” He crosses his arms, staring slightly to the left of where he sees Taako in the Ethereal Plane. He taps his foot. 

“Geez, boychik, you really are a good detective.” Taako Blinks back into view grumpily. “You got me.” He rolls his eyes. “Was just gonna give you the offer of a  _ lifetime _ , but if you’re too sassy to accept it…”

Angus snaps to attention. “No, sir, I’m excited! What are you talking about?” 

“Magic.” Taako snaps his fingers and sparks come out, which is pretty unnecessary, since Angus already knows that he’s a wizard. “You mentioned an interest in magic, so I thought I’d, uh,  _ indulge  _ you. We start tomorrow, four o’clock, cafeteria.” He turns on his heel without waiting for a response. 

With a flourish of the Umbra Staff, he Blinks back into the Ethereal Plane. Angus, still perfectly able to see him, pretends to be surprised.

“Alright, sir,” he says into the “empty” hallway. “See you tomorrow.” 

* * *

Angus has a hunch. It’s borne from one main thing: his own experience versus the Reclaimers’.  It all started months ago, the first time he went into the Director’s private office. He’d been awed by the moonbase, of course, but he’d also been fascinated by the large portrait above her desk. 

Her, but younger, Davenport, the Reclaimers, and two people that Angus didn’t recognize. One of them looked like Taako’s sister, if Taako had a sister, and the other one was a plain human man. All wearing red robes, or jackets, or, in Taako’s case, something that looked like both. He didn’t mention it at the time. 

It was only when the topic was brought up with Merle that he realized that the Reclaimers did  _ not  _ see that. They only saw the Director, at her current age. 

So, Angus’ hunch: there’s another Voidfish. And the Director has it. And she’s using it, for some reason. 

Angus needs to find out that reason.

* * *

Magnus sometimes doesn’t know his own strength, and he hates it. 

He’s up on the bleachers of the training dojo with Angus and Carey, doing some agility training exercises. Up and down, then over and across, and some jumps and rolls mixed in, all to simulate being on difficult terrain. 

Angus is in Magnus’ blind spot when he jumps to the left, and Magnus hears a loud yelp as he realizes that he’s bumped into the kid. Angus windmills his arms, his foot catching on the edge of a step before he completely loses his balance and topples backwards. 

He’s caught by a bubble of Feather Fall, the back of his head mere feet from the hard floor. 

“You all good?” Carey asks, scrambling down the bleachers to help lower him to the ground, the spell ending as soon as his feet touch solid ground. Magnus is glad that everything turned out okay, but if Angus didn’t cast the spell, which Magnus knows he didn’t, then who did?

“Be more  _ fucking  _ careful next time.” Taako snarls, suddenly up in his face, his wand still out. He’d been across the gym doing target practice. 

“Sorry.” Magnus winces, his hands held up to shoulder height. He takes in Taako’s twitching ears and pale face. “Sorry.”

* * *

Taako flops on the couch of the Reclaimers’ common room. “Come on, you’ve got the disk part right, now you just need to keep it up with weight on it. Floating Disk,” he yawns, “is only a Level One spell, my dude.” 

Through half-closed eyes, he keeps a careful watch on Angus, taking note that the boy- a kid, like nine years old or something- seems to be getting a little tired. Probably running out of spell slots, understandable on a busy Magic Day. They’ll have to call it quits soon, which is fine, because it’s edging close to dinner time, and Taako has a fun date with the Bureau’s cafeteria-

Wait. No he doesn’t. It’s Thursday night.

“Stop.” He probably sounds more panicked than he really should be for the situation. Angus looks over at him, worried, when Taako sits up on the couch. “Shit, wait, hold on,” he checks the time. 

It’s six fifty-nine, and Kravitz is going to come over at seven. And he’s almost never late. 

“Sir?” Angus asks, looking adorably confused. No,  _ annoyingly _ confused. Definitely not kind of endearing, because Taako one-hundred-percent hates people. “Is something the matter-” 

The loud and distinctive sound of a rift tearing open into the room cuts him off. Angus visibly pales. Taako winces before turning with a bright smile. 

“Hello, Taako, I-uh-An-Ahhhh...” Kravitz flounders, looking back and forth between him and Angus, seemingly lost for words, cycling through a few different accents before landing on his normal voice. 

Taako decides to breeze right past the awkwardness, like a train that skipped a station and headed right to date-town. “Kravitz, meet Ango, resident magic boy and detective or whatever-”

“Angus-”

“Agnes, meet my hot stud, Kravitz.” Taako cheerily waves a hand at Angus and takes Kravitz’s arm, one foot already in the rift to take them down to Neverwinter. He doesn’t need the moonbase’s sneakiest detective snooping around his private life. “Anyways, see ya later!” 

“Bye, sir?” Angus says, giving them a hesitant wave as the rift closes behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking a few liberties with how ghosts and the Undead work in D&D, just fyi. I had the idea for this while re-listening to the Lunar Interlude. While it's probably just a goof, Taako's line about thinking that Angus was dead had an interesting opportunity. Hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Next chapter: Angus snoops and gets in trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Cycle 30: The world we’ve landed on has a nation called Tesseralia. They have the Light of Creation are are willing to give it to us, but only after... _

There are footsteps coming down the hallway, but Angus doesn’t hear them. 

_ He figured out that this man, the Hunger, was named John. He is described as old and tired-looking, but he was willing to share information, given that he got information in return. It’s a hard bargain, but it’s vital for us to find out more about the Hunger… _

The door opens and Angus doesn’t hear it, too engrossed in the journal. A ceramic mug shatters on the ground, and he hears  _ that.  _

“Angus,” the Director-Lucretia-gasps. 

He whirls and freezes. This is the worst-case scenario: caught red-handed in the middle of the night in her private sanctum, reading one of her private journals. “Ma’am,” he shakily says, slowly sliding off the chair and backwards, away from her. “I-I, I don’t know-” 

“What are you  _ doing? _ ” She waves away her spilled coffee with her staff. “How are you- how are you even  _ reading  _ that?” 

Angus looks past her towards the open door. His eyes dart around the room for another exit, but the only other way out is the same way he came in: through the Ethereal Plane. He backs away slowly, preparing to pop into the Ethereal Plane and away. 

But Lucretia is faster. She sees his skittishness and waves her staff, barking out an incantation as Angus jumps sideways into the Ethereal Plane. 

His shoulder hits something hard. He’s knocked down onto his back, his head knocking against the back wall of this trap that Lucretia’s put him in. He winces and rubs the back of his head. The world is grey and shadowy, the Ethereal Plane blurring the Material Plane slightly. But here, he can see the faint outline of bars surrounding him. When he stands, they extend a few feet above his head, a few feet in every direction. 

A Forcecage. 

“Let me out,” Angus demands, popping back into the Material Plane. He tries to sound intimidating, but it comes out shaky. “You can’t keep me in here forever.” The spell only lasts for an hour, he remembers from his studies. 

Unfortunately, from what he’s learned about the spell, he also knows that there’s no way for him to get out. It extends into the Ethereal Plane. Dispel Magic won’t work against it. The only way out is interplanar travel or teleportation, neither of which he can do. 

An hour is a long time.

“I’m sorry, Angus,” Lucretia looks shaken. “I know it’s overkill, but I need to know how you got in here and how you’re able to read my journals. Did you inoculate yourself?” 

He ignores her, keeping his head down, staring at his socked feet. If he can’t get out through the Ethereal Plane, maybe he could use the Astral. He has Kravitz on speed-dial on his Stone of Farspeech. Speaking of his Stone, maybe he could call someone for help, or at least to let them know that something’s happened to him, just in case-

A purple Mage Hand shoots through the bars and snatches his Stone of Farspeech from his hand. Damn. He must have failed that Sneak check. 

“Angus, please, just talk to me,” Lucretia pleads, directing her Mage Hand to give her Angus’ Stone. “I know you probably don’t trust me after what you’ve read-”

“Hell no,” he mutters, and feels a little guilty at the way she flinches slightly from his interruption. 

“-but I’ll let you out, I promise, just as soon as you tell me what’s going on.” 

He peeks up at her. At first glance, she seems calm. But her grip on her staff is shaky, and her eyes are stricken, as if it physically hurts her to keep him here. She’d always been fond of him; maybe he can use that to his advantage. Sometimes good detective work requires a little bit of manipulation. 

“Please just let me out,” he quietly says, pitching his voice higher. He concentrates on the feeling of being trapped, pressing back against the bars. Tears well up in his eyes. He lets them fall. “Let me go! Please, just let me go, Ma’am!” 

She wavers before determination hardens her face. “Then just tell me what I want to know. Did you inoculate yourself?” 

He shakes his head no before he can stop himself. 

“No?” Lucretia frowns. “Did you understand what you were reading?” 

He bites his lip and looks up at her, then disappears into the Ethereal Plane. Here, he paces. He needs to lie. He needs to get out of this without compromising his mission, without telling her that he’s a ghost. He could fake not understanding, but that won’t get him very far. He runs his hand through his hair. His best way out is to go with his current plan: play up his age, pretend to be upset and scared, and act like he doesn’t know anything. 

Acting has always come easy to Angus. 

He gets himself worked up before going back over to the Material Plane. Lucretia jumps when he reappears in the corner of the cage, curled up on the ground in the corner. And when he got himself worked up, he went all out, so he is  _ loud  _ and he is  _ inconsolable.  _

“I’m sorry,” she says, now sounding very upset. “I’m so sorry for doing this, Angus, but please, just tell me what’s going on. If you didn’t inoculate yourself, then how-just,” she sighs, “just tell me. I’m sorry.” 

He feels something tingly settle over him, and he can’t quite fight it off. A Zone of Truth. He winces and grits his teeth, his shoulders shaking with hiccuping sobs, his hands hiding his face, just to give him one last method of defense against Lucretia’s keen perception. He may  _ sound _ upset, but he doesn’t know how well he can keep up a panicked face. 

“How did you get in here?”

The answer comes out of him before he can stop it. “The Ethereal Plane.” At least it’s a relatively safe answer.

She audibly frowns. “But I made sure to ward it against Blink and other spells. And I don’t even think you know Blink yet, right?” 

“No...” 

“Then how did you get in here using the Ethereal Plane? Ordinarily, you wouldn’t be able to stay in there long enough to get past all of my defenses.” 

Angus slaps a hand over his mouth, the answer  _ because I’m a ghost _ threatening to spill out. 

Lucretia sighs. “Fine. I’m going to ask again: did you inoculate yourself with the baby Voidfish?” When he doesn’t answer, she rubs her eyes. “Angus, please.  _ Uncover your mouth. Answer me.”  _

The words have the force of a spell behind it, and Angus struggles to resist. But Lucretia, he knows, is over a hundred years old. She is at a level of spellcasting too high for him to comprehend, let alone fight. 

“No, I didn’t drink the ichor, I-I just, I’m not affected by the Voidfish.” 

She rears back as if struck. “What? Not affected-what do you  _ mean  _ you’re not affected by it?”

“I-I-” He tries to swallow the rest of his sentence, but now that the dam has broken, it all comes spilling out. “The Voidfish doesn’t affect the Undead, Ma’am, and when Taako pushed me off the train, I died, so I don’t have to drink the ichor to know what the second Voidfish was hiding. And I’m sorry for breaking in, but I’ve got a sacred duty from Istus and kind of the Raven Queen too, and I just needed to know, I was just curious.” He takes a deep breath when he’s finished, not looking up to see Lucretia’s reaction. 

“You’re a ghost.” He doesn’t have to look up to hear the shock in her voice. 

He sniffles, the waterworks mostly stopping during his rant. “You said you’d let me go.” He wraps his arms around his knees. 

“I’m sorry, Angus,” Lucretia repeats, leaning heavily on her staff. “I’m just, I’m sorry.” She sighs and drops the Forcecage. 

Angus slips into the Ethereal Plane and flees. 

* * *

All in all, this is a wonderful night for Taako. It’s just him and Kravitz in the Reclaimers’ lounge area. Just the two of them, a bottle of vino, and a plate of experimental deviled eggs. Magnus was off somewhere with Carey, and Merle was down on the surface. 

The room is quiet besides their chatter. They talk about everything and anything, Taako leaning on Kravitz’s shoulder, his bare feet up on the coffee table with a fresh coat of bright blue polish on his toenails.

A knock on the door.

“Go away!” Taako yells. 

Another knock, sounding more insistent. 

“Criminy cricket, if Magnus locked himself out again, I swear,” Taako grumbles, lazily waving a Mage Hand over to open the door. “Damn lug has to have fifty replacement keys by now-oh. Ango.” 

Angus looks, in a word, awful. His normally fancy outfit is rumpled and his red-rimmed eyes are brimming with tears. He’s half-hiding behind the door frame. “I’m sorry, sir-sirs,” he notices Kravitz, “I-I just, uh, nightmare-” 

“Yeah, yeah, just come on in,” Taako mumbles, looking up at the ceiling so he doesn’t accidentally look worried. 

Kravitz, next to him, is sitting ramrod straight. “If you, uh, want me to leave-”

“No,” he snaps, then coaxes his tone back to a gentler one. “Stay, bone boy. I’ll whip us all up some hot chocolate or somethin’ sweet, and we’ll have a nice sleepover.” He stands and takes the Umbra Staff under one arm. “Sit down, kid. One hot cocoa with extra marshmallows, coming right up! You’re getting a special one of a kind Taako Experience, so you’d better enjoy it!” 

Thankfully, this brings a ghost of a smile onto Angus’ face. “Yes, sir.” He plops down on the couch next to Kravitz.

If you think that Taako  _ absolutely  _ doesn’t eavesdrop on their conversation, you’d be wrong. While he heats up milk and fetches necessary ingredients, he’s keeping one long pointed ear out listening to them. 

“A nightmare?” Kravitz is asking, sounding worried and sensitive and everything that Taako loves-likes,  _ likes,  _ about him. 

“No, it was-the Director, Lucretia, she,” Angus is speaking quickly and quietly. Taako frowns at the mention of the Director. What she did have to do with any of this? “I was where I wasn’t supposed to be, and she caught me snooping, and she, there was a Zone of Truth, I had to tell her, Kravitz, sir.” 

This isn’t making much sense to Taako, but judging by Kravitz’ silence, this means something. And the Director? Zone of Truth-ing Angus for information, apparently  _ interrogating  _ him hard enough that he got this upset from it? That sounds suspicious as fuck. He frowns and turns the heat down on the milk, straining to listen. 

“That, that’s bad, Angus.” Kravitz sighs. “Did she-did she hurt you, or trap you somehow, threaten you? Why didn’t you call me? You have my Stone frequency.” 

Three mugs, a generous helping of marshmallows, and the cocoa is ready. But Taako hesitates, waiting to hear more. 

“No, she didn’t hurt me, but she put me in a Forcecage, and she wouldn’t-wouldn’t let me out until I told her the truth, and I don’t have any sort of planar magic that I could have used to get out, and I was going to call for help but she grabbed my Stone-”

That’s all Taako needs to hear. The Director is being sketchy as all hell with this. Taako’s trust level regarding her was already dangerously low, and this just plummeted it right down into the planet’s core or somewhere really low like that. 

And he trusts Angus. No matter what secrets he might be keeping. They’re all keeping things from each other. 

“Three hot choc-o-lates, courtesy of the man, the myth, the legend, the Taako himself!” He breezes back into the room. If he can’t directly help Angus in whatever he’s secretly doing, the least he can do is cheer him up. 

If there’s one thing that Taako’s good at, it’s charming people out of bad situations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tried not to make Lucretia out to be too bad. To be fair, if you found out that someone had broken in and was reading your stuff, you'd want to find out how/why.


	3. Chapter 3

This has been, so far, a terrible training session. Merle doesn’t even like these stupidly harsh early-morning trainings, even on a good day. 

Magnus seems tired. He’s probably sleeping badly again; Merle’s caught him more than once just walking aimlessly around the quad, looking up at the stars. Merle would join him, but he doesn’t really like looking up at the slowly emptying heavens anymore. 

And Taako. This morning, Taako is in...a mood. 

“Taako!” The Director snaps, a semi-transparent bubble protecting her from a stray Magic Missile. Which wouldn’t be unusual, since Taako doesn’t always have the best aim when it comes to spells. 

But this is the fifth such “accident” in ten minutes.

Taako steadfastly ignores her, rolling to avoid one of the training robots. Merle manifests a shield in front of him to block an incoming attack, while simultaneously preparing a buff for Magnus. That was Merle’s specific training for today: sheilds and buffs. Something about their upcoming mission being particularly taxing on them, and a possible lack of available healing or rest.

“Cover me!” Magnus yells, falling back to Merle, limping slightly. Taako, with a flourish of the Umbra Staff, lets loose a Lightning Bolt that is much larger than normal, large enough that the Director, even from her viewing area, is caught up in the trailing edge of it, the lightning licking at the edges of her shield. 

_ “Enough!” _ She slams the bottom of her staff on the ground, and the training robots deactivate. “You are all dismissed. Taako, to my office. Right now.” She whirls and storms off. 

“You’re in  _ trouble…”  _ Merle mutters, one hand on Magnus’ leg patching up whatever damage was there. Just a sprained ankle, nothing serious, thankfully. “What’s got you so worked up?” 

He shrugs, twirling the Umbra Staff up and around in a big circle, letting it rest on his shoulder. “Nothing really.” As they exit the training dojo together, he walks down with them to their dorm. 

“Aren’t you, uh, supposed to go to her office?” Magnus whispers, looking around worriedly as Taako opens their door. 

He nonchalantly shrugs. “Nah, I don’t wanna.” 

Great. Merle sighs. It’s one of those days where Taako wants to act like a passive-aggressive toddler. “Well, I’m just glad you got us out of training early. Wanna have some breakfast or something? We can run down to the cafeteria.” 

“How about I make something?” Taako suggests, in a tone of voice that suggests, weirdly, like he would ever cook for them. He walks backward into their common room, throwing his cloak over the coat rack. He forms a Mage Hand to poke at a lump on the couch that neither Magnus nor Merle had noticed before. “Rise and shine, Ango! Time for breakfast!” 

Angus McDonald is sleeping on their couch? How did Merle really not notice this? To be fair, he doesn’t really notice anything before nine o’clock in the morning, but  _ still.  _

“Good morning, sir-sirs,” Angus says, yawning widely and rubbing at his eyes. “Sorry for falling asleep on your couch.” 

“No problemo, you can just make it up to me by using your fancy detective skills,” Taako wiggles his fingers, “to find the syrup and powdered sugar. Hop to it, it’s Fantasy Belgian waffle time!” 

Merle climbs up on a stool to watch Taako cook. Magnus stands next to him, his dark brown eyes awestruck as he watches Taako pour and stir and cook. They’d always vaguely known that Taako liked cooking and loved food, but they’d never seen him cook before, except for the macarons at Candlenights. But now, he’s in his element, instructing Angus in a cheery voice to grab this and do that. 

Forks are on the table, plates and napkins and a jar of syrup kept magically heated. Taako plates up the large waffles, sprinkling a bit of salt on each one, pausing, then dolloping on generous amounts of cream, powdered sugar, and strawberries. Four plates on the table, four people in the chairs in front of them. 

Merle is astonished. These waffles are the best he’s ever tasted. They’re fluffy but firm and crunchy on the outside, slightly sweet with another different taste. 

“Wow!” Magnus exclaims with a full mouth, a piece of waffle dangling from his fork. “Taako, this is amazing! How did you do this?” 

“A little bit of lemon zest, uh let’s see, some cornstarch to get that good good outside.” He tastes the waffle and slowly nods. “Was gonna put some booze in there, but I didn’t want to be a bad influence on boy wonder-”

A knock on the door. 

“Uhhh…” Magnus looks over at Taako. “Maybe you should go get that?” 

Taako continues eating, ignoring everything that’s going on. There’s another knock, more insistent.

“Fine,” Merle sighs and slips off his chair. “Make me do all the hard work.” 

It’s the Director, to nobody’s surprise. Also unsurprisingly, she looks  _ pissed.  _ “Is Taako here?”

“Yes…?” Merle says, unsure if he should rat out his friend. But, looking back at the table, Taako hasn’t run away or tried to hide. Instead, he’s put his feet up on Merle’s abandoned chair, lazily leaning back on Angus’ shoulder and eating waffles. 

Taako looks smug. Magnus looks wary. Angus looks terrified, like  _ he’s  _ the one in trouble. 

“I need to speak to you, Taako.”

He waves his arm. “Go ahead. You want some waffles? They’re fucking great.” 

She grits her teeth. “In private.” 

“Well, I don’t want to. You got something to say to me, you can say it here.” He perks up. “Actually, quick thing first: You haven’t happened to have seen, uh, Agnes’ Stone of Farspeech around? He says he misplaced it and can’t find it, so it’s gotta be real lost if the world’s greatest detective or whatever can’t solve this case!” 

Merle is close enough to the Director to catch her quiet gasp. Out of all the ways that Taako has riled her up this morning, this seems to have rattled her the most. 

“Yes.” She takes a deep breath and reaches into one of her pockets, pulling out Angus’ Stone. “Davenport found it outside of my office this morning. I was going to stop by his room today to give it back. Here, Angus.” Her voice cracks on his name. 

There’s an awkward pause where Angus looks between Taako and the Director before taking out his wand and casting a light blue Mage Hand that floats over and takes the Stone. “Thank you, Ma’am.” 

Merle sits back down, pushing Taako’s legs off his chair. “Can you two just work out whatever’s going on so the rest of us can enjoy our breakfast? It’s too early for this.” 

Taako shrugs. “Fine.” Then he stares daggers at Lucretia for a solid thirty seconds. Thirty seconds of weird uncomfortable silence, during which Angus, Magnus, and Merle trade unsure glances. 

Lucretia clears her throat. “I see. Take the day off training, but I expect all three of you to be back on schedule tomorrow.” With a swirl of her regal outfit, she leaves. 

“What just happened?” Magnus asks. “Did you cast a spell or something?”

“Just did what Merle suggested: told her what was on my mind.” Taako leans his chair legs back. “Well, since we have the day off, Ango, what do you say to an impromptu shopping trip-slash-magic lesson?”

* * *

Sending: level three evocation spell. Enables the user to send a short message into another person’s mind, and allows them to respond in kind.

_ Don’t fucking scare my magic boy like that again or you’ll regret it. _

_ Understood. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This keeps growing in length somehow. It was supposed to be two chapters, then three, but now it is DEFINITELY going to be four!


	4. Chapter 4

The Day of Story and Song, Angus McDonald wakes up to a quiet room. He rolls over and sits up, then frowns. The air feels heavy today, full of foreboding. Something is going to happen today, he can feel it ache in his bones, his half-real spectral bones.

The clock reads nine forty-five. He needs to get up. The Reclaimers will be returning any time now with the Animus Bell. That is, of course, if they survive. Despite himself, Angus has grown attached to them. 

Magnus, friendly and warm and always ready to lend a hand.

Merle, who care about his team way more than he pretends to, always prepared to break up arguments with his calm demeanor. 

And Taako...Taako. Insists that he doesn’t care about Angus, but also seems weirdly protective of him. The thing the other day with Lucretia and his Stone, that was something unexpected. And letting him sleep over with nothing more than a half-hearted eye roll, making him and the others breakfast of his own volition. Taako has changed in the last few months, and for the better. 

It’s hard to remember, sometimes, that Taako was the one who had killed him. 

Not on purpose, of course, Angus knows that it was an accident. All that he really remembers is a discussion of jumping off the train before it crashed, then a hand on his back, then the ground rushing up to meet him, then nothing. 

Angus shakes his head to clear it. His death is not something he needs to think about right now. In this moment, he just needs to decide if he’s going to wait for the Reclaimers in the Director’s office or in the hangar. 

He doesn’t  _ really  _ want to deal with the Director right now. He doesn’t know where they stand after his break in about a week ago. They haven’t spoken, they haven’t even seen each other since. He’s pretty sure it’s half because of worry that he’d reveal to the others what she had done, what she was keeping from everyone, and half from guilt. 

Maybe the hangar would be best. Yes, Angus will go wait with Avi in the hangar. That decision made, he gets dressed and ready for the day. Shoes on. Wand on his lanyard. Key in the lock, hand on the door, turning the handle.

The handle doesn’t move. Angus frowns and tries it again, double-checking the lock. Only then does he notice a sigil magically inscribed into the door. His heart sinks. It’s a Sign of Sealing. 

Okay, deep breaths. That spell just magically bars a door. He could  _ try  _ Knock, but since it was almost certainly Lucretia that had cast it, he’s not going to be able to succeed. And it’s a level two spell that he’d have to waste to find out. He’s not even  _ good  _ at Knock yet. And he’s not strong enough to break down the door. Maybe he can call someone to help.

His Stone of Farspeech isn’t on his desk where he’d left it last night. In its place is a note:

_ I’m sorry for locking you in, but big things are going to happen today, and I couldn’t risk your interference. I hope you’ll forgive me. _

_ -Madame Director _

He crumples the note and throws it in the trash. Time to try the Ethereal Plane. But when he tries to shift into that gray space, it doesn’t work. Something is blocking him, suppressing that innate ability. 

It’s not hard to find the sigil under his rug. Looping and twining around itself, the symbol blocks planar travel. 

He can’t get frustrated yet. Lucretia may have thought ahead very well, but she can’t have thought of everything. Could he Magic Missile his way through the wall? No, that would take too many slots, and it might not even work. The moonbase is built to be sturdy and impenetrable. He needs to think creatively, think like a detective. 

The door: impassible. The walls: too sturdy to break through. Planar travel: impossible. 

The window: unlocked! That’s the good news. The bad news: Angus has a room with a view. A wonderful view, on a good day. On a day like today, though, his stomach churns to see the ground miles below the moonbase, the gathering storm clouds still in the dim sky. The exterior surface of the dome is smooth. He wouldn’t be able to climb across, and he doesn’t know Levitate yet. Taako was going to start teaching him the spell during next week’s lesson. 

But he  _ does  _ know a spell that  _ might  _ work.

* * *

This is a quiet morning for Carey and Killian too. After finally getting up, they lazily eat breakfast with Noelle in their shared dorm. Killian thinks it’s kind of weird that the floating robot needs a dorm, but Noelle still likes to keep some human habits. One of them is collecting. Right now, she’s been collecting driftwood and sea glass from different beaches down on the surface. 

Killian thinks all of that beachy stuff looks lovely, if not a bit homely and plain. She’s sitting at the kitchen table, lovingly watching Carey pour herself a cup of coffee, when she hears a weird tapping sound. 

“Honey, was that you?” She frowns and tries to listen. “Did you just make a noise?” 

“No?” Carey walks out of the kitchen. She freezes, her eyes wide, staring over Killian’s shoulder. “Oh my god. Oh my- Angus!” She hurriedly sets down her cup and scrambles for the window of their common room. 

Killian turns and nearly falls out of her chair. Angus McDonald, resident boy detective of the fake moon, is outside their window on a small floating disk, hovering over the ground miles and miles below. It makes her sick even thinking about it. She’s never been a fan of heights. 

“Are you okay, what were you even  _ doing  _ out there?” Carey quickly asks, helping Angus down from the window. He’s trembling as he dispels the disk, clutching his wand tightly in his hand. 

“I’m fine, thank you Ma’am.” He takes a shaky breath and straightens his wind-tousled clothing. “It was-I was-” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, visibly agitated. 

“You don’t have to tell us,” Killian pipes up. Angus is a strange child sometimes, though she doesn’t always know how human children work. “We trust you. Do you need any help?” 

He looks relieved. He shakes his head no. “No, thanks. I’ve got it under control for now. Just-just be prepared. I feel like something is going to happen today.” He gives them all a nod, then walks out the door, wand still in hand. 

“He looks like he’s going to a battle,” Carey quietly remarks, moving to Killian’s side. “He’s too young for this, whatever this is.” 

“We just need to trust that he’s going to be okay.” Killian puts her arm around her girlfriend. “He can handle more than we give him credit for.” 

* * *

Barry Bluejeans is having a rough day. Probably. He’s not really sure of anything that’s going on anymore. Maybe this is just another Tuesday for him.

But he’s pretty sure a child appearing out of nowhere is not a normal thing. The two other guys with him-Taako and Merle, he thinks were their names, he’s having kind of a hard time remembering them- also seem kind of surprised by it, judging by the way Taako shrieks and jumps two feet in the air, almost dropping the Hole Thrower in his hands. 

“Ah!” The kid jumps too. “That wasn't supposed to happen! Uh, sorry, sirs!” 

“Angus? What are you doing here? Were you the one who cast Silence on that bell, were you invisible, why didn’t I see you-” Taako is asking a  million questions a minute, and this kid-Angus- doesn’t seem to know how to answer them. 

Merle steps in. “Questions later. For now, let’s just get in there. We could be caught at any minute.” 

Barry is suddenly, painfully, aware that he has been let out of the Pocket Spa, after Taako and Merle’s psychic freak-out from the trapped hallway. The kid is staring at him. He puts his hands in his jean pockets, then takes them out, awkwardly.

“Barry Bluejeans?” Angus asks, voice an unsure squeak. 

“Yeah.” Barry shrugs. Maybe he knows this kid or something. “Sorry if you know me, kid, I’ve got the ol’ Swiss cheese brain right now. You need something?” 

He shakes his head quickly, suddenly very interested in his shoes. “No, sir, you, uh, just looked familiar. Sorry.” 

Thankfully, Taako makes a hole in the door at that moment, and the four of them rush through. 

“You okay, kid?” Barry awkwardly asks, hanging back with Angus while Taako investigates the room.

Angus looks pale and is shaking slightly. He has one arm wrapped around his stomach, the other one white-knuckled around his wand. “I just don’t feel too good all of a sudden.” His eyes widen, looking behind Barry towards the desk in the room. “That symbol-Merle, sir, please, can you just take it down.” Angus backs up a step, out of the room. “It’s making me sick.” 

“Sure, whatever,” Merle grumbles, snatching the disk powering the symbol. He turns it over in his soulwood hand before tucking it into a pocket. “That better, kid?” 

“Yes, thank you.” 

Taako has a look on his face that feels like it should be familiar to Barry. Slightly suspicious, mostly concerned. “We’re going to have a talk about why an anti-Undead ward would affect you later, Ango. But for now-”

The coin chimes on. The alarm bell over the tank starts ringing, shrill and skull-pounding loud, and someone  _ definitely  _ heard that-

“Drink, quick, quick!” Angus grabs a cup from the desk and dips it into the tank, handing it quickly to Taako, who downs it without a second of hesitation, then passes it to Merle, who does the same as feet pound down the hallway towards them.  Barry fills his whole flask. He takes a swig then holds onto the rest, for someone, he thinks, for-for Davenport. Their captain, Davenport-

Ouch, not a good thought. He’s having a lot of capital-b Bad thoughts right now. He doesn’t realize he’s on the ground until two guards haul him up.  Angus yelps. Two guards wrestle the cup of ichor out of his hands before he has a chance to drink. 

“Don’t put up a fight,” Barry groans, struggling to find his footing amidst the dizziness that threatens to buckle his knees. 

Merle goes willingly, grumbling slightly. Taako jerks his arms out of the guard’s tight grip and mutters something about being perfectly able to walk on his own, thank you very much. Angus, after a few attempts at squirming away, lets himself be led. 

Angus never had a chance to drink the ichor. 

In all of the commotion that happens afterward, with everything else that Barry will bear the burden of remembering, he will forget this fact until much later.

* * *

Later being, specifically, two and a half weeks after the Day. 

They’re all still in the moonbase’s dorms: Taako, Merle, Magnus. Barry and Lup have magically expanded the suite to include two rooms, one for Barry and one for Angus, despite his protests that he has his own room just down the hall. 

Barry finds Angus in his room. The conversation is quiet, simple, direct. It’s easy to talk to Barry about this, easier than it would be for anyone else besides Kravitz. It’s easy because Barry’s already guessed, because he’s not shocked or confused or emotional about it. 

Taako, though, is a different story. 

“You should tell Taako,” Barry suggests, calmly, one arm around Angus’ shoulder. 

He nods. “I should.” 

And so he does. 

“I have something to tell you,” Angus starts, biting back the “sir” that he wants to add to the end. He winces. That sounded too cliche, too serious. 

“Mm-hm?” Taako half-turns from the vanity, his fingers twisted into his hair, braiding the fine strands into a complicated style. He must see something in Angus’ posture, or hear something in his voice, because he immediately stops and fully turns. “Something wrong?” 

“Uhhhhh….” Angus sits on the bed. He twists the hem of his sweater between his fingers. It’s getting cold on the moonbase as summer winds down into autumn. “I, I just have something I feel like you should know.” He pats the bedspread next to him.

Taako sits. “Alright. Hit me.” 

Time to rip the bandaid off. 

“The train, on the train…” He takes a deep breath. If he doesn’t just get it all out now, he feels like he’s never going to be able to say it. “When you pushed me off the train, I know you didn’t mean it, but I _died-"_

Taako’s off the bed and out the door before he can even finish his sentence.  _ Taako’s good out here.  _

Angus sighs and balls his hands into the soft knit fabric, and he tries not to cry. He messed it all up, he should have just let it be, he just should have never said anything.

There are voices out in the common room. Lup, loud. Taako, quiet. Barry, somewhere in the middle. A sound like fabric tearing, then a deeper voice, Kravitz. 

“You  _ knew?”  _ Taako demands, his voice raised. Angus peeks out the door into the common room. 

Kravitz raises his hands. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, dear. Who do you think, uh,” Kravitz stumbles over his words, visibly searching for a calming euphemism, “took care of him?”

“Listen,” Lup speaks up, hovering as close as she can to Taako, “just sit down and listen for a second, okay?”

“No!” He shakes his head, mutters something, then pops out of sight. Not entirely invisible to Angus, though, who sees him pacing around the room in the Ethereal Plane. He steels himself before stepping sideways into Ethereal Taako’s path, the greyness of this in-between space enveloping him.

“Taako,” Angus quietly says, reaching for his arm. Taako brushes him off. 

“No, Ango, we don’t get to do this like this. We don’t get to,” he sighs and drags a hand down his face, “you don’t get to say something like that and then pretend like it never happened, like I never-” He groans in frustration. “Damnit, kid, I was going to invite you to live with us when we find somewhere, just until you decide where you wanna go, but now-not after I  _ killed  _ you, we can’t  _ do  _ that anymore!” 

“Why?” 

He whirls on Angus. “Because I can’t look at you everyday, I can’t feed you and buy you shit, when I know that you’re  _ dead  _ and that it’s  _ my  _ fault!” He runs a hand through his half-braided hair. “Fuck, I just can’t, okay? What if you trip down the stairs, what if I accidentally poison you or something, or you fall in the kitchen and stab yourself, and you just keel over right then and there? I can’t-I just can’t risk that anymore!” 

“That’s not going to happen-”

“But it  _ could! _ Anything could happen at any time-”

“It’s  _ not  _ going to happen!” Angus raises his voice. “And the whole train thing wasn’t supposed to happen at all! Something went wrong, Istus said she made a mistake. It’s not your fault, Taako. It was never your fault.” He swallows hard. “It was just an accident. I’m sorry-”

“What the fuck are  _ you  _ apologizing for-”

“I should have never brought it up.” 

Taako visibly deflates with a sigh. His shoulders slump. He raises one arm and puts it around Angus’ shoulders, pulling him close. “Whatever. It’s done with now, no use apologizing about it. Let’s just,” he sighs again, “I’m glad you told me, kind of. We can talk about this more later. For now, let’s just get back.”

They pop back into the Material Plane. Barry has brought a pot of tea and four teacups out on a tray. He meets Angus’ eyes as they reappear. 

“All good?” He asks. 

Angus nods and sits next to Barry, taking one of the teacups. Lup hovers over his shoulder, pouting a little at not being able to hold a cup. Taako whispers something apologetic-sounding to Kravitz before they, too, join them at the coffee table. 

“Yeah, we’re good.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Off The Starlight Express and Into the Woods](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14602548) by [THACA221B](https://archiveofourown.org/users/THACA221B/pseuds/THACA221B)




End file.
